Electric-railway-motor truck



(No Model.)

C. J. VAN DEPOR-LE. ELECTRIC RAILWAY MOTOR TRUCK.

No. 429,746. Patented June l0, 1890.

.HHHHW .IIIIIHIHHHIH Il ullllrln' mmv UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIcE.

CHARLES J. VAN DEPOELE, OF LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS.

ELECTRIC-RAILWAY-MOTOR TRUCK.

sPEcIrIcArrioN forming part of Letters Patent No. 429,746,1iatea June 1o, 1890.

Application filed August 15, 1889.

To all whom t may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES J. VAN DE- POELE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lynn, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric-Railway-Motor Trucks, of which the following is a description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

My invention relates to electric railway cars, and more especially to certain improvements in trucks supporting the motors for propelling said cars and in the means and mechanism for sustaining the motors upon the truck, the construction and arrangement whereof will be fully hereinafter described, and referred to in the appended claims.

In the drawings, Figure I is a plan view of an electric-railway-motor truck embodying` the invention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof. Fig. 3 is an end View. Figs. 4. and 5 are fragmentary views showing a slightlydifferent form of support for the front end of the motor.

As indicated in said drawings, A B are the axles, upon the ends of which are secured the carrying-wheels C C D D. The extremities of the axles A I3 are sustain ed in suitable vertically-movin g bearings mounted in pedestals E F, and the truck in this respect does not differ from those now in use. The pedestals and 'parts contained therein are all firmly united by a rectangular metallic frame-piece G, upon which the car-body is placed.

Electric motors II I are provided for propelling the car, one of said motors being arranged in operative relation to each of the axles A B. Each motor is sustained by a pair of arms 7L h', the inner ends of which are sleeved upon the axle, their outer ends carrying' the bearings for the armature-shaft J. The armature-shaft J is provided with a pinion j, which meshes with the gear-wheel j', mounted upon a counter-shaft jz, also sustained by the arms h h. The counter-shaft j? carries a pinion js, which meshes with the driving-gear j* upon the axle to be driven. The motor I is similarly geared to the axle B.

The particular form of gearing just referred to has been described in other applications for Letters Patent and is herein only referred Serial No. 320,883. (No model.)

to by way of illustration, the important feature of the invention consisting in the means for sustaining the outer or free ends of the propelling-motors, so that they may have some radial movement, but at the same time be iirmly and securely sustained in position to perform their functions notwithstanding the jar and vibration incident thereto. `With this end in view a truss-frame is connected to the pedestals on each side of the track. As best seen in Fig. 2, an iron bar L is secured at its extremities to the lower portion of the pedestal E F, said bar being bent upward at its central portion between the wheels C D. A second similar bar M is secured at its extremities along the upper part of the pedestal E F and preferably against the under side of the frame-bar G.. The bar M is curved or bent downwardly at its lower portion, so that its central portion meets and may be united to a similar part of the bar L, the bars L M thereby forming a very strong truss-frame between the wheels on each side of the truck. The meeting point of the two portions of the motor-supporting frame is .desirably but not necessarily in the same plane as the axles A B. The extremities of the motors are actually sustained by transverse truss-frames N O, the extremities of which are sustained bythe said trusses L' M. The transverse trussframes are best seen in Figs. 3 and 4L, and said frames are provided at their central portion with means for iiexibly sustaining the extremities of the motors' and for absorbing as much as possible of the shock and strain to which they are subjected.

The invention is not limited to the employment of a separate transverse truss-frame for each motor, since the extremities of both motors might be sustained by a single transverse support, and it will also be understood that the transverse supporting-frames are only made in the truss form shown and described because of the superior strength and lightness of the metal in that form. Obviously, therefore, longitudinal and transverse supporting-frames, however the same may be constructed, are within the scope of my invention as applied to the support of radiallymovable propelling-motors.

The extremity of each motor is provided IOO with a nose Q, consisting of a non-magnetic metallic plate q, spanning and uniting the ends of the iieldanagnet pole-pieces Il Il2 and formed with a forward extension q.

As indicated in Fig. 3, a short transverse bar Q. is sustained at its ends upon vertical bolts R R and cushioned by springs 'r fr', the cross-plate, therefore, being capable of some vertical movement between the buffer-springs o' o", which may be of rubber or anything else found best adapted to the position. The nose q rests upon the cross-bar Q', and in that manner sustains the forward end of the motor. A bolt q2 is shown as uniting` the nose q of the cross-bar Q; but said bolt is merely provided as an additional security, and the hole through which said bolt passes is purposely made large enough to allow some frecdom of movement of the nose q with respect to its supporting-bar Q. An obvious modification of the nose-piece q consists in forming the forward projection with a horizontal notch, as indicated in Fig. 5.

Some changes may of course be made consistent with the foregoing description, and I therefore do not limit myself to the precise details hereinbefore set forth.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s-

l. In an electric-railway-motor truck, the combination, with the earrying-wheels and axles thereof and an electric motor or motors for propelling the same, said motor or motors being` supported at their held-magnet end upon the said axle or axles and provided with nose-plates uniting the free ends of their polepieces, of means for sustaining the free ends of the motor or motors, comprising longitudinal frames ext-ending between the bearings of the carrying-wheels and a transverse truss frame or frames sustained at its end upon the longitudinal frames, and spri11g-connections between the noseplates on the free ends of the motor or motors and the transverse truss frame or frames.

2. In a motor-truck for electric railways, the combination, with the carrying wheels and motors centered at one end upon the axles thereof, of a truss-frame extending between and connecting the pedestals, holding the bearings of the said carrying-wheels upon each side of the truck, a truss frame or fram cs extending transversely of the truck and sustained at their extremities upon the longitudinal truss-frames, and flexible connections between the free extremities of the motors and the transverse supporting frame or frames.

3. In an electric-railway-motor truck, the combination, with the supporting-wheels and axles therefor, and suitable pedcstals guiding the bearings of said axles, propelling-motors supported at their outer ends upon the axles, longitudinal truss-frames extending between and connecting the pedestals, transverse truss-frames extending between said longitudinal frames, imiter-springs, frames arranged between the members of the transverse truss, and connections between the free ends of the motor or motors and the buffersprings.

4. An electric-railwaymotor truck comprising carrying-wheels an d supporti iig-axles and suitable pedestals for the bearings of the axles, a frame uniting the pedestals and adapted to receive the car-body, propellingmotors sustained at their outer ends upon the axles and movable radially with .respect thereto, longitudinal frames extending between the pcdestals on each side of the truck, a transverse truss frame or frames secured by the extremities to and sustained by said longitudinal frames, transverse bars springsupported between the members of and at about the central portion ofthe transverse truss frame or frames, and a projection upon the extremity of each motor engaging the transverse plate or bar and flexibly sustained thereby.

In testimony whereof I hereto affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES J. VAN DEPOELE.

XVtnesses:

JOHN W. GIBBONEY, CHARLES L. OECHSNER. 

